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Topic: Fiire Remote (Read 2127 times)

it is _NOT_ for people who have less than PERFECT arm control. It is far too sensitive.

Not to mention there are a number of _VERY_ ___VERY___ Brain dead UI SNAFUs... Why should I be flipping back and forth between the center button, and the OK button that's buried on the bottom left to do something as simple as PLAY A FUCKING MEDIA FILE?!

it is _NOT_ for people who have less than PERFECT arm control. It is far too sensitive.

Not to mention there are a number of _VERY_ ___VERY___ Brain dead UI SNAFUs... Why should I be flipping back and forth between the center button, and the OK button that's buried on the bottom left to do something as simple as PLAY A FUCKING MEDIA FILE?!

argggghhhh... frustrations are mounting with this system.

-Thom

We agree about the sensitivity level used in the Fiire remote. There needs to be a way to set this as a preference. However we also agree that using the Gyro remote (or mouse for that matter) is great for a few mins but you soon realise that in 'real use' the need to move your whole arm around to just change track on CD etc is a pain and is very inconvenient and moreover makes your arm ache!

However as a normal 'remote' but with 'follow me' its is fantastic :-)

it looks more comfortable and has a tremor cancelling technology....im sure all that adds to the price of course. maybe some people would like it.[/quote

That sounds interesting but I think the fundamental problem is that having to wave a remote around in free space is just not as easy as just moving your fingers over a remotes keypad while your arm rests on the arm of your sofa!

yeah....i dont really have any experience with them but i can imagine the gyration thing doesnt end up being all its cracked up to be. im gonna borrow one and see how well it works....im sure ill hate it....i really dont think id use the gyration that much anyway....or the follow me....ill probably just get a nokia 770 eventually and im using the cisco 7970 as an orbiter in the bedroom. ive got the mx950 by universal remote with the radio transmitter so i will get that going. who knows...maybe ill end up wanting the gyration and maybe even the "follow me".

I use a Gyration mouse even for my day to day work. I often switch back and forth between using the standared laser or gyration. Granted that the gyration did take a little getting used to.

In reply to sensitivity: the gyration part of the remote is just a mouse as far as Linux is concerned, so if you want to turn down the sensitivity you need only to adjust the sensitivity of the mouse. I'm not really a KDE user so I don't really know where the mouse settings are for KDE, but it shouldn't be hard to find.

I have been using the Fiire remote for a while now and I have gotten used to it. It took a while and its not for those who don't want to make an effort. I still occasonally use the MCE as well and it works better for some functions, but if I open KDE the MCE is useless and the Fiire will allow me to do useful things.

Anything this new and different will take some learning. If you don't want to learn, the MCE remote works very well and you can just use it. No one is forcing your decision. The time to sort out a Wii remote has some value to most people and many would rather do something else with that time. (And probably would never even look at this forum.) And for some of us this seems to have the appeal of some gigantic puzzle or D&D game with little prizes and gotcha's everywhere.

I am getting better with the remote, with that said, I am trying to gain more proficiency in the LinuxMCE codebase. There are a number of UI issues that can confuse some people (some people would think, why do I sometimes have to hit OK instead of hitting the center button?, the consistency of changing the haloed button needs to be dealt with, even though I am now subconsiously flipping back and forth between using the direction pad and the gyro, this is a source of potential confusion.)

also, I do believe that work with a pure gyro-mouse needs to be dealt with, because the Fiire is very much a schizophrenic device.. It is BOTH an IR remote, _and_ a gyromouse, with remote buttons, and gyro mouse buttons.

why am I bringing this up?

Because so much of the appeal of LinuxMCE has seemed to be, the fact that EVERYTHING can be done with the gyro and 3 buttons... Close. But if that was the case, why did this remote need to have an entire universal remote collided into it? It can be done with fewer buttons, fewer parts, and certainly a smaller footprint, did Fiire really think somebody would treat this thing like their Comcast DVR/learn their other devices remote too?

I'm just posing these observations because I believe this product, while fantastic, needs a good deal of refinement (and another paint job, please please please dear _GOD_ it clashes with everything. If Fiire wanted a remote that stood out from the others, they could have used a number of different shades, but I will take this up with them personally.)

in my case Fiire would be more functional than 3button gyro, cause usually I use 32 inch lcd tv and LMCE is just one input that is shown on TV. So it would be nightmare to have 1 remote for LCD TV and other for LMCE. That's why probably I'd buy Fiire... But that's just my case.

But there is a point, that buttons are probably not easily distinguished for LMCE or normal IR use. I don't have a Fiire, so other would probably have more usable opinions.

sorry...i havent actually gotten to the stage where i use my remote...is it LIRC that is used to control the IR blaster/receiver? are you able to use that to make customized macros? with all those extra buttons on the fiire remote can you reprogram the buttons to do whatever you want?